Category Archives: Max Kade Institute

Max Kade Institute Free Lecture

Virtual Lecture

“Wo man singt”
German-American Singing Festivals, 1849–1914

with

Heike Bungert

Wednesday, April 5, at 12:00 pm Central Time

Free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Email Antje Petty to receive a Zoom link: apetty@wisc.edu

​Links will be emailed the day before the event.

Between 1849 and 1914, German-American singing festivals with thousands of participants and visitors were a constant yet changing element in the cultural landscape of the United States. They brought German and European music to America, helped immigrants construct a German-American (musical) identity, and contributed to asserting their status in society. This presentation will focus on the beginnings and the expansion of German-American choirs, especially Männerchöre (choirs for male voices), singing federations and their festivals, and the musical repertoire that was performed from the mid-nineteenth century to the beginning of World War I.

Heike Bungert is Professor for North American History at the University of Münster in Germany and has published extensively on the festivals of German Americans.

Click here for further information about this presentation

or contact Antje Petty (apetty@wisc.edu)

——

**The Max Kade Institute Virtual Lectures Series is made possible with the support of the Friends of the Max Kade Institute. ​To learn more about the Friends of the Max Kade Institute, including how to become a member, click HERE.

On the Road to Prohibition: The Temperance Battle and German-American Brewers

Live Virtual Lecture

On the Road to Prohibition:
The Temperance Battle and German-American Brewers

with Jana Weiß

Thursday, December 10, 2020, at 12:00 noon CT

Free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required
​email Antje Petty (apetty@wisc.edu) to receive a link to the event
[Links will be sent a day before the event]

A hundred years ago, Prohibition was enacted nationwide in the United States. This lecture juxtaposes the evolution of the temperance movement with the role of beer and wine in German-American communities. Special emphasis will be on the Midwest in the period from the founding of the Anti-Saloon League in 1893 until World War I, when German-American brewers became the main target of pro-temperance activists.

© Markus Reinke
Jana Weiß is Associate Professor of History at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (Germany). Her research focuses on the interplay of technology, race, religion, and human migration in nineteenth- and twentieth-century America. Dr. Weiß’s current research project examines the lager beer revolution in the U.S., led by German-American brewers.

For more information go to the MKI website or contact Antje Petty (apetty@wisc.edu)

German-American Dialects Online

GERMAN-AMERICAN DIALECTS ONLINE!

Are you curious what your German-speaking ancestors in America might have sounded like?

The Max Kade Institute’s German-American and American English Dialects page is new and improved and back online! Go tohttp://language.mki.wisc.edu/, click on the tabs and explore “The German Language in America,” listen to “German-American Dialect Recordings,” and read “Essays” to learn more about facts and myths regarding German in America.

GERMAN GENEALOGY Workshop in Madison, Saturday, February 23, 2019

Finding Our German Ancestors in Europe:

a Workshop for Genealogists 

with Antje Petty 
Saturday, February 23, 2019
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
UW-Madison Memorial LIBRARY, Room 126,
728 State Street, Madison
Cosponsored by the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies and the Wisconsin Historical Society

CD Release Party – November 17

Sound Salon – Alpine Dreaming

November 17, 2018 – 7:00pm
University Club, 803 State St., Madison, WI

Join us for this lively CD release party featuring the Grammy award-winning owners of Archeophone Records Meagan Hennessey and Richard Martin, accordionist Deb Krauss Smith, and folklorist and Professor Emeritus James P. Leary.
In 1920 Ferdinand Ingold, a poor but visionary Swiss settler in the small Wisconsin town of Monroe, audaciously launched a record label, Helvetia—invoking his homeland’s ancient name and celebrating its musical heritage. Praised in the immigrant press yet beset by fiscal challenges, Helvetia issued a scant 36 sides. Illuminating one of the first American record labels established by an immigrant for his own community, Alpine Dreaming both recalls a bygone era and resonates with all who seek better New World lives while remembering their homelands.
Co-sponsored by the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies, Mills Music Library, and the Mayrent Institute for Yiddish Culture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

MKI Oktoberfest

The Friends of the Max Kade Institute are having another Oktoberfest fund-raising event. A couple of us went to the same event last year and had a great time. The funds raised go to the Library of the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies.

Here is a link to the event page on their web site: http://mkifriends.org/events/

Briefly the event is on Friday November 4 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the University Club on State Street. There will be a German-style buffet, German and Swiss music and of course there will be beer – from Bull Falls Brewery in Wausau.

2016-mki-oktober-fest-poster

Deciphering Old German Script Workshop

The Max Kade Institute at UW-Madison is offering a workshop on deciphering old German script on Saturday October 1, 2016. Mark Louden will be the speaker and the workshop will be held on campus at Union South from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

For all of the details, including the workshop fee, lunch menu and registration deadline, please follow this link: http://mki.wisc.edu/events/2016/deciphering-old-german-script

 

Max Kade Institute Lectures

Stories of Freedom and Unfreedom in German and Other Immigrant Voices in the Americas, 1500-1870
Aaron Fogleman, Northern Illinois University
March 15, 6pm
UW–Madison, Memorial LIBRARY, room 126

An Extraordinary Record: Three-Plus Centuries of Germans in New Orleans as Documented in the Holdings of The Historic New Orleans Collection
Daniel Hammer, Historic New Orleans Collection
April 7, 6pm
UW–Madison, Union South

Of German Neighborhoods and Low German Villages: Spoken German in South Africa
Peter Wagener (Emeritus), Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, Germany
April 19, 6pm
UW–Madison, Union South

More information at http://mki.wisc.edu/events/all-events